Anand consents, and we patter out of the library. When we backtrack to the grand staircase, Sandra urges Jonas to return to the Sky Hall.
“Table work sounds easy, but it can take hours,” she explains.
On our way, I notice that the walls in one of the service rooms are covered in child’s drawings.
“That’s my son Matteo’s handiwork.” Jonas flashes me a mischievous smile. “As you can see, he’s very gifted.”
“It’s too early to tell,” I deflect.
“He’s exceptionally gifted!” Hyacinth steps closer to the wall and studies the drawings. “So much creativity!”
At nineteen and the youngest on the set, she’s more socially competent than I’ll ever be. The fact that she has no fucks to give about the battle of the sexes or the classes, no doubt, helps.
Hyacinth shifts her admiring gaze to Jonas. “I hope we’ll have a chance to meet your little boy. Are he and his mom at one of your other properties now?”
Eww.
Our costume master Tami and Melody, the standby Elizabeth Bennet, cringe along with me. Truly, no social skills can make up for lack of life experience! But Hyacinth’s teenage overconfidence no doubt makes her think she handled fishing for Jonas’s marital status very smoothly.
His smile slips. “Matteo is at my other property with my mom and my sister.”
Pursing his lips, he signals that he’ll say no more about Matteo’s mom.
Oh my God, he’s a widower!
I can’t imagine any woman leaving her child and her handsome, charming, rich, and titled husband for a reason other than to meet her maker. My chest constricts with sympathy.
Jonas surveys the long faces around him. “Guys, guys! In case you assumed that Matteo’s mother had passed away, I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you.”
Huh?
“She’s quite alive,” he adds. “Remarried and resettled in New Zealand.”
That doesn’t make any sense… unless he’s a drunk… or an incorrigible womanizer.Yes! That must be it!
At one point, his ex must’ve decided she was done. She’d no longer stand for it. In response, he hired a hotshot divorce lawyer who managed to reduce the poor woman’s options to two equally unpalatable prospects. She could stay and tolerate her husband’s behavior. Or she could leave him and lose her son. She left. That makes her a tragic hero, not a villain. The villain in this story is the handsome and charming Count Jonas d’Alenq.
Come to think of it, the way he’d paid off Nat should’ve clued me in an hour ago!
On the other hand… Can we completely discard the possibility that Jonas’s ex dumped him for another man? No, we can’t. Perhaps she’d met someone even handsomer and more charming than Jonas. Or richer and posher. Or better in bed…
It’s never a good idea to judge people based on rumors and conjecture.Just ask Elizabeth Bennet!If anyone deserves to be welcomed with an open mind, it’s our new Mr. Darcy, the man who saved the day.
And so, for the sake ofThe Immersive Pride and Prejudice Experience, its capable director and everyone involved, I shall consider Jonas a decent man… until proven otherwise.
CHAPTER3
JONAS
Sandra leads everyone to the center of the Sky Hall. I can’t help but admire the aura of competence and authority that envelops her chubby form. The aura makes her almost attractive.
A technician puts on a cheerful pop song. On Sandra’s command we begin the physical warm-up, performing various stretches and dance moves. After warming up the body, we must warm up the voice by humming, chanting, reciting limericks, tongue twisters, and other frivolous doggerel.
With the vocal warm-up out of the way, Sandra shouts, “Circle up, folks!”
The cast and crew stand in a circle and hold hands. Excitement brightens the eyes and vibrates through the air. As I recall from my amateur acting days, the director will now say something to pump everyone up. The goal of this quick ritual is to enhance focus and boost the morale. Show circles also reinforce the sense of being part of a team that sails together on one barque or sweats blood together on one galley. In either case, if the vessel sinks, everybody drowns.
It’s a shame show circles aren’t as common in filmmaking as they are in theater.
